Management, Kelley T

Fascinating read about the creative process. ( )

A good introduction to design thinking and its application in a business innovation context, but very focussed on IDEO's experiences and case studies (not surprisingly, but it does limit the scope of the book). ( )

Loved it. I think innovation is the coolest thing, and in my next life want to work at ideo. In this life, I want to build a church like ideo. Creatively challenging and inspiring. Breathed life into my tired soul at a time when I was longing to see new, different, fresh. ( )

The Deep Dive
How do great innovations come about? How is it that some groups seem to have a lot of good ideas while others move incrementally along? If you are curious about this – then watch this video: The Deep Dive.
The Deep Dive is a 30 min profile of the design firm IDEO by Dan Rather in 1999. You may not know it, but the firm is behind the designs of many of the products you use in your everyday life, like the computer mouse, and fat-handled toothbrush. Since the filming of the video, IDEO has grown to a company of over 500 people on 3 continents, continuing a string of success.

In the video, we follow a team as they redesign the standard shopping cart in a week. Although the activity is portrayed by Dan Rather as “chaotic,” there is actually a very coherent structure behind the group. It’s this structure, along with the intellectual playfulness of the participants that really makes the process not only creative but powerfully relevant and productive.

There are a couple key behaviors that stand out. First, they exhibit a keen awareness of the difference between divergent and convergent mental activity. This was first pointed out to me by Bill Casey of ELG. The group goes through a series of expanding and contracting activities that are matched with their physical activity. For example, research is a divergent activity (harvesting ideas) and is conducted away from the office individually or pairs. Integrating competing ideas is a convergent activity and is conducted in a group back at the office. As Bill Casey points out, the most effective brainstorming sessions are extremely expansive when divergent and extremely focused when convergent.

Another key behavior is the approach to prototyping competing solutions. Rather than attempting to develop some single optimal and integrated solution that met all the customer needs, they elected to build 4 prototypes each optimized along a single customer need. By doing so they freed each team from the constraints of the other customer needs (while still building an actual cart, that could be pushed through the aisles) resulting in a single minded focus on a single area. It is this focus and freedom that enables innovation. Ultimately, these 4 prototypes were merged, but after they’d been encouraged to push the art of the possible along their particular vector.

I recently asked IDEO how their process has evolved. “Even more customer involvement” was the immediate answer.

For more about IDEO, you can order their video from the ABC store, or buy the book: The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley. ( )